Christmas Angels
by Antigone2
Summary: The last scene in the manga... yeah, you remember that. ^^ This is the story behind and around that. COMPLETE. ^^
1.

Author's notes: If you don't know of The Cherry Project a great page   
to check out is: http://pqangels.com/cherryproject/  
  
I've also written another Cherry Project fic called Silver Strings.   
^^;; I would say it's a shameless self-plug but... ::shrug:: I didn't say   
it was a _good_ fic. ::giggles:: It's a crossover with one of manga-  
ka's Naoko Takeuchi's other manga, Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon. You can   
check that out if you so desire, it gives a little more background.   
It's here: http://www.crosswinds.net/~springlibrary/antigone.html  
  
For TCP fans reference:   
  
This takes place about two years after the Chieri and Tsuzuki started   
skating together, and it actually places those years in between the   
kiss and the final scene in New York City. I imagine there is a least a   
long time frame between those scenes since the annoucer in New York   
says something about them representing Japan in a championship.  
The quotes about New York when Tsuzuki is talking to Cheri were adapted   
from the last story in the mange, Dream Park de Mattete.   
  
And btw, to all you New Yorkers who are going to write and tell me I   
completely romanticized your city and its not like that, I know. ?   
Right now I miss NYC so much that I feel like I'm allowed to   
romanticize it a little. Besides, Naoko did. ^_^  
  
  
Christmas Angels  
  
  
A Cherry Project fanfiction/continuation  
By Antigone  
  
Part one: Wings  
  
The jet plane rushed through the sun-washed clouds of the early   
American morning, a flash of silver in the sky. The mountains and   
plains of the nation below it was hidden by the billowy whiteness, but   
two blue, wide eyes were still trained at the window in complete   
amazement.  
  
"Dad," the young teen whispered, hands pressed to the thick   
glass, "that's Amerika down there!"  
  
The older man beside her nodded, shifting the magazine in his   
hands, "I know, Chieri-chan, I know."  
  
"Cherry," a younger masculine voice added, "it's been 10 hours   
already on the plane, you think you'd be sick it by now."  
  
Twisting in her seat, the little blonde stuck her tongue out at   
the thoughtful boy leaning on his crossed arms over the back of her   
seat.   
  
"Tsuzuki, it's just because you fly on planes like this all the   
time," she complained, "it's not scary _or_ amazing to you."  
  
His warm thin fingers threaded through hers before she could   
blink, or glance toward her father, who was pretending to be very   
interested indeed in the in-flight magazine.  
  
"This one is different," the boy whispered.  
  
"Why?" she whispered, even though she knew the answer.  
  
"Because you are here. And we are going to New York City. New   
York, Cherry!"  
  
She smiled, "New York City. Your dream."  
  
His hand pressed closer to hers.  
  
"Half of it."  
~~  
Twelve hours before, the Tokyo airport was bustling with people,   
chatter, coffee, books, magazines, passports and dreams. Chieri hardly   
had time to take it all in. Her heart was pounding as hard as before   
she went on the ice, her passport and ticket shaking in her head. This   
was it. New York. Rockefeller Center. And her first time ever on an   
airplane.  
  
"Goodbye Cherry!" The soft material of Yuni's fleece jacket   
engulfed the skinny girl as she laughed against her best friend's   
shoulder.  
  
"Yuni-chan!" Little hands pushed Yuni back a bit, "I'm only going   
for a week!"  
  
Beside her, the tall, slim Tsuzuki cracked a half-smile, "Hai,   
Yuni-chan, we are just going to skate and fly home."  
  
With a mock glare, Yuni turned to the famous Tsuzuki Masanori,   
"Is that all you world-renowned figure skaters have time for? Be sure   
you take time to see the sights! I mean, this is a once in a lifetime   
chance!"  
  
"I think you are thinking of the Olympics, Yuni-chan," lanky and   
handsome Kouichi added, a lop-sided grin crossing his face.  
  
"Um, that too," Yuni said, running a hand through her short, dark   
hair, "but I'm talking about things that don't have to do with   
skating!"  
  
Blinking, Tsuzuki shrugged his black jacket over his   
shoulders, "There are things besides skating?"   
  
Chieri giggled, and Yuni rolled her eyes.  
  
"Hey, good luck, man," Kouichi reached out and slapped Tsuzuki on   
the shoulder, "skate your butts off guys!"  
  
Sweat dropping they answered, "A-arigatou!"  
  
"I'll be thinking of you," Hiroshi said, grinning. The   
musician/composer/high-school student cocked a thumb at his blue and   
white NY Yankees baseball cap.  
  
"Cherry, you look so cute!" Yuni sighed, brushing some imaginary   
lint off her friend's blue winter coat. Blonde hair was done up in   
braids for convenience's sake, but with a blue snowflake patterned   
scarf and a short white skirt, the effect was like someone had stolen a   
snow angel from the display at Macy's.   
  
Blushing, Chieri shook her head, turned to the figure at the   
check-in point. The man turned, smiled at his daughter, and waved.  
  
"Coming Dad!" She called, then turned back to her friends.  
  
A chorus of good-byes and hugs circled the group, as Chieri, her   
skating partner, and her father started placing their carry-ons on the   
x-ray conveyer.  
  
As they disappeared through the metal detectors, down to the   
motorized walkway, Yuni sighed.  
  
Looking at the two boys beside her, quiet, intelligent Hiroshi;   
funny, sweet Kouichi, her brown eyes softened wistfully.  
  
Taking their arms, causing the boys to jump, she smiled up at   
them through strands of silky brown hair. "The Cherry Project   
succeeded," she said softly.  
  
"Yup," Kouichi, "I turned them into stars! With a little help   
from you guys, of course." Yuni punched him lightly in the arm.  
  
"Stars doesn't matter," she said sagely, "it's being in love that   
changed them."  
  
Kouichi slid green eyes to the girl beside him, then flicked them   
back to watch the backs of the crowd that had swallowed the Asakas and   
Tsuzuki. "Hai," he said, softly.  
  
~~  
"Cherry," a warm hand squeezed the sixteen-year-old's shoulder,   
"are you okay?"  
  
The pale-faced girl did not even turn around to look into the   
beautiful, beautiful blue eyes she knew were watching her so lovingly,   
so carefully.  
  
"I'm scared," she whispered, eyes watching the planes taxi down   
the runway through the window before them at the gate.  
  
"Why?" he said softly, putting his chin lightly on her head,   
hands clasping down across her waist, tightening to keep her from   
trembling so much she fell over.  
  
"I've never been on a plane before," her voice was wavery, weak.   
Tsuzuki frowned, worry fluttering in his heart, this did not sound like   
his Chieri, the incredibly strong girl who had wow'ed every adversary   
with her skating talent, even when she thought everyone in the industry   
was against her.   
  
"It's not that bad," he said with equal softness, "I fly all the   
time when my father takes me with on business." His voice took on a   
sarcastic edge, "Trust me, the plane is the least painful part of those   
trips."  
  
She didn't answer, just reached up and squeezed his hand so hard   
he almost winced.  
  
"Mama died on a plane," her voice was almost not there, just air   
across her lips.  
  
"I know."  
  
She shut her eyes, buried her face in his shoulder.  
  
"I know." For a few moments they did not move, even though they   
knew Chieri's father would be back soon with some coffee and muffins   
for them.  
  
"Cherry," he said into the soft wisps of blonde hair, her   
shoulders were shaking.  
  
"I miss her," she choked out, "I'm scared and I wish she was   
here, but she's not because... because the plane she was on... because..."  
  
"Chieri-chan," Asaka-san's voice sounded worried as he quickly   
set down the food and started hurrying toward his little girl. He   
stopped, though, when Tsuzuki's arms came tight around Chieri's thin   
waist, pulling her close to him.  
  
"In New York," he said softly, "the buildings tower over   
everything. It's like Tokyo, but the buildings are older," he   
murmured, "from the 20s, 30s, some of them. They have moldings along   
the sides, flowers and swirls."  
  
Chieri sighed, leaned her head on his shoulder, tears drying on   
her face.  
  
"The sidewalks glitter in the streetlamps and moonlight. There   
is some sort of mica they use, everything sparkles, especially in the   
winter when the air is clear."  
  
"Tell me about the angels," she said, eyes shut.  
Graceful hands stroked her hair.  
  
"In a valley between two buildings, there is a place called   
Rockefeller Center. In winter, there is a skating rink there, near a   
golden statue, and at Christmas time there is a huge tree, lights like   
little moonbeams. And there are angels, angels everywhere, in the   
streets, surrounded by lights."  
  
"I want to see it," she said, pulling away slightly.  
  
He smiled warmly at her.  
"We'll fly there together, Cherry," he said, "with our wings."  
  
Asaka-san tilted his head slightly, brown eyes sad. Chieri   
looked more like her mother every single day, and every single day she   
was growing farther and farther away from him. One day he was the only   
person she would skate with, in memory of his days as an Olympian   
figure skater, and the next instant she was crashing into her hero:   
singles skater Tsuzuki Masanori. And since that moment things had   
never been the same.  
  
She had grown wings, angel's wings. And they were beautiful, and   
they were perfect, and she was using them to fly away from him.  
~~  
  
"Where are they now?" Yuni asked, leaning over the back of   
Kouichi's desk chair as the computer screen's flickered to life.   
Kouichi's house was huge, and filled with so much electronic   
equipment that Yuni sometimes felt she was in a huge office building,   
and not a home. But with both his parents overseeing the skating club   
they owned, and his little sister Canty no doubt out buying the newest   
fashions from Juuban's shopping district, Yuni realized she had never   
felt more comfortable. Especially since Canty wasn't here in her   
perfect sophisticated clothing to make Yuni's large white sweater and   
leggings seems inferior. No, she really didn't like Kouichi's little   
sister. But she liked him.  
  
"Just a sec," Kouichi replied to her question, typing rapidly   
into the keyboard, "They are flight JAL 234 and... they landed about an   
hour ago."  
  
"What time is there?" Yuni said, leaning closer, a few strands of   
her dark hair mixing with Kouichi's long blonde ponytail.  
  
A few more keys clicked.  
  
"4 am."  
  
"Wow! Jet-lag city!" Yuni exclaimed, falling backward onto the   
black leather sofa.   
  
He turned, and smiled, "Anything else, miss?" Long fingers poised   
themselves over the keys.  
  
She blinked, "Hmm... not now, thanks. You have so many computers   
and stuff Kouichi. What do you _do_ with them all?"  
  
"Well, this is where we found out about Chieri."  
  
"Huh?" she sat up, confusion in her brown eyes.  
  
"Yeah," he said, clicking some keys, "we had a data base of all   
potential pair skaters for Tsuzuki. And her name came up. Of course,   
fate might have had a hand in the fact that they ran into each other-   
literally- at the rink."  
  
"You mean- Tsuzuki-san intended to skate with her from the   
start?!"  
  
"Hai, that was his plan."  
  
"But-but he let her go into singles skating! Why?! Why didn't   
he just tell he-"  
  
"Because," Kouichi interrupted, "she wanted to single skate, to   
prove herself."  
  
"And he just let her go off by herself?!"  
  
"Hai," Kouichi's face had a sad little half-smile across it as   
the colors from the screen showed little Asaka Chieri skating with her   
father at the city's rink, "because he loved her."  
  
"Kouichi-san," Yuni murmured to herself, mouth slightly open and   
eyes focused on his profile.  
  
He turned and smiled at her, eyes slowly clearing.  
"So, what can we expect of their costumes for this special   
American Christmas Show at Rockefeller Center?"  
  
Yuni grinned, "Perfection of course!"  
  
"Modest, aren't we?"  
  
A small leather pillow hit the 16-year-old boy in the face, and   
as an irritated Kouichi lifted it to retaliate, he found the sound of   
Yuni's bubbling laughter erasing any annoyance at all.  
  
~~  
  
"This is amazing," Chieri breathed, white clouds billowing from   
her lips. She pressed her palms against the cool metal of the balcony   
outside Tsuzuki's presidential suite room at the hotel. The city   
spread before her, glittering and pulsing in the night like a gem come   
to life.  
  
Sighing, Tsuzuki dropped an extra winter jacket around the   
blonde's shoulders, "Cherry, it's freezing."   
  
She tugged to jacket closer to her shoulders and watched as her   
boyfriend's face softened as he looked at the lights below him. Poker-  
faced as always, she thought, reaching up with numb fingers to brush a   
lock of soft hair away from his forehead.  
"Then warm me up," she whispered.  
  
~~  
  
The door closed behind Canty with a resounding bang, causing the   
girl to jump a little. "It's cold outside," she murmured to herself,   
shaking out her perfect hair, "it might snow." Smiling slightly, she   
let herself remember how much she and her brother had waited for the   
first frost, the first snowfall when they were small.  
  
To her the crisp air of winter had meant everything wonderful:   
snow, sledding, ice-skating... Tsuzuki Masanori. Eye-lids lowered   
slightly, dark lashes smudging against porcelain cheeks. She couldn't   
remember when she fell in love with him. It was long before anyone   
thought it possible for a little girl to be in love. Hiroshi and   
Kouichi would be laughing, throwing snowballs, and Tsuzuki would be   
watching them, smiling slightly. Then he'd turn to her.  
  
"Canty," his young eyes were always so subdued. Looking back,   
she realized that he had been burdened already, with his father's ill   
attempts at raising him alone, with his expected future running a huge   
corporation. And with the amazing fame that ice-skating, his one love,   
had betrayed him with.  
  
"Hai?" So happy when he noticed her. Heart- pounding. Her   
brother's best friend, the love of her life. So grown up for a little   
boy, that was when she promised she would grow up too. They could be   
adult little children together, and love like the grown-ups in movies.  
  
"Want to ice-skate?"   
  
It was what he always asked her, was what he loved, what she was famous for. And she   
always said yes, yes I'll skate with you, meaning so much more than he ever heard.   
They were always skating, on the same ice but never together. She became what she   
wanted, a child-adult at eight years old, but no matter how much she matured, she   
could never reach him.   
  
Her jacket hung heavy from her thin fingers.   
  
After all, he had the angel's wings. And Asaka-san must have had   
wings that matched his. And she was left alone, too grown up for girls her own age,   
too isolated to meet someone new. Only Kouichi said he could see the wings on his   
little sister's shoulders. He was all she had.  
  
"Oniisan?" she called, walking into the main living room.  
Her brother lay fast asleep on the sofa, sandy-colored hair   
falling across the shoulder of Nishimura Yuni, who was curled by his   
side. One of Tsuzuki and Chieri's tapes whirred in the VCR, the only   
other sound the slumbering teen's breathing.  
  
The jacket fluttered from her hand, pooling on the floor where   
the housekeeper would find it long after Canty fled the Akiyama house.  
~~  
  
Asaka-san sighed as he pushed the suitcases, his and Chieri's,   
deeper into the mirror-lined closet. The hotel room was small, two   
beds, a bathroom, and a beautiful view of the city, which was, like   
him, caught between restless sleep and restless wake.   
Walking to the window, he leaned his arm on the window pane and   
tried to forget that his only daughter was at the moment five stories   
above him alone in a huge hotel room with her boyfriend. He knew he   
should trust her enough to allow Tsuzuki-san to show her the view from   
the balcony, but he remembered being young, too.  
  
Sighing, he shut his eyes against the city Christmas lights. He   
remembered. The Olympics were when he was seventeen and twenty-one,   
but if he had to chose a best memory the gold metal wouldn't be it.   
And while he knew Chieri had a shot at the same glory, he knew   
something much more important would change her heart forever, something   
that might be glowing behind Tsuzuki Masanori's youthful eyes.  
  
"Sakura," he whispered, "I wish you could see how she's grown."  
Angels danced below him, lining the streets of fifth avenue,   
blurring through his watery eyes.  
  
"She looks just like an angel."  
Wind fluttered the man's thinning hair and he smiled into the   
cool city air.  
  
"She looks like you."  
~~  
  
Stars glistened in the sky, dawn bloomed over the city buildings,   
and Chieri slept, curled on the bed, her father's snoring blending with   
the morning city sounds.  
  
From the balcony far above the girl, a young man watched the sun   
rise, his thoughts filled with her, and only her.  
  
  
Please email me, guys! antigone@lunap.com. I promise I'll   
finish this by Xmas. ^^ hee hee.   
  
  



	2. Chapter Two

  
  
The ice was cold beneath Canty's fingers as she stared at the   
smooth white surface below her. The rink was deserted, her parents had   
long left, even the night janitor had packed up his things and locked   
the door behind him just shortly before Canty scampered to the side   
door and pressed her key into the lock. A flick of her wrist, the   
right combination in the security system, and the lights across the   
vast, empty stadium-style area had buzzed to life.   
  
Slowly, the teenager had walked across the ice, her sneakers   
slipping here and there. Running a graceful hand across the top of the   
side supports surrounding the ice, Canty reflected on the moment she   
knew Tsuzuki Masanori could never be hers. Chieri won the competition,   
but it did not matter, because she had already won his heart. Canty   
remembered the brittle feeling in her chest as the arms she always   
dreamed of swept around the other blonde's thin waist, the blue eyes   
that always seemed to detached were bright and focused into the other   
girl's eyes.  
  
"Cherry," he murmured, only for her, but Canty could still hear   
him, as if every other sound in the stadium had faded into dead   
silence, colors blurring around the couple before her eyes, "will you   
pair skate with me?"  
  
Canty knew from the beginning that she would lose... Tsuzuki was   
her angel. But that girl, too... she was beautiful like an angel...   
Canty was not suited for their world...  
  
Canty turned away before she saw them kiss, and felt her face   
smack almost directly into a soft sweater.  
  
"Oniisan?" Why was he looking at her so kindly? "That's not   
true," he said, green eyes understanding.  
  
She hadn't realized she'd spoken her thoughts out loud.  
  
He put a comforting arm around her and for a moment Canty felt   
something flicker in her the hollowness of her chest. She was loved.  
  
"I see angel wings on your shoulders," Kouichi had smiled.  
  
Now Canty knelt on the ice, the coldness spreading to her knees,   
to her hands. "You were the only one, nii-chan," she choked out   
through her tears, "who saw an angel in the snobby skating princess."  
  
Black mascara ran down perfect cheeks, damp hair clung to the   
sides of Canty's face. She had to admit Chieri was everything she   
wasn't: modest, sweet, innocent, childlike... completely uncorrupted by   
the world of fame and constant praise. And so was Yuni, all those   
things...  
  
So close to her brother, curled in his arms...  
  
"Oniisan," she murmured, sniffling in the cool air, her hands and   
toes numb, "have you found your angel?"  
  
Now he'll only see wings on Yuni's shoulders, she realized, and   
no one will be there to make me an angel, too.  
  
Outside, a soft sprinkling of snow began to fall on Tokyo.  
  
~~  
"Tsuzuki, it's snowing!" Chieri cried, cold wind tinted her   
cheeks and nose a soft rose color, her eyes were as bright and   
brilliant as a child seeing the world for the first time.  
  
Taking one mittened hand in his, Tsuzuki gave Chieri a rare and   
brilliant smile.  
  
"So what do you want to do now, Angel?" he said, laughing   
slightly, "we already saw the display at Macy's, the Egyptian temple in   
the museum, and pretended we could afford to shop on 5th avenue. What   
next?"  
  
Chieri was silent, blinking snow off of her dark eyelashes as she   
thought. The wind rustled the wisps of hair curling around her ears,   
tiny white teeth nibbled slightly on pink lips, small hands pulled at   
the soft material of the scarf around her neck. Tsuzuki felt for a   
moment like he had been punched in the stomach, like all the air had   
left his lungs. The feeling was familiar, he couldn't place the first   
time he felt it, but it was enough to make him break a promise to his   
father, flee an international airport, and even break another girl's   
heart. It was the feeling of knowing, beyond certainty, beyond   
question, that he was completely and totally in love.  
  
"Cherry," he said, softy, and she turned to him and he was   
falling like he had just finished a quadruple: knowing exactly how he   
would land and how it would feel, "arigatou."  
  
Blue eyes blinked up at him, "Nani?" she whispered, but he just   
shook his head, eyes so tender that she wanted suddenly to cry.  
  
His gloved hand cupped her face and her face burned with the   
knowledge that they were in the middle of a crowded street, Christmas   
carols and the smell of vender's food heavy in the air, the babble of   
children blurring in with the din of the crowds. But all that faded   
when he kissed her. The air was cold, but his mouth was so warm and   
for a moment she forgot everything, the packages in her hands almost   
fell to the pavement when her boyfriend's arms pulled their bodies as   
close together as the thick winter coats would let them.  
  
"Cherry," he said breathlessly, "I don't know how you did it to   
me, but-"  
  
"I love you," she interrupted before he could say it, dimpling up   
at him as she stepped backwards, never giving him a chance to say it,   
never letting him forget who said it first, "and I've decided I want to   
go to Rockefeller Center next."  
  
"Ch-" an electronic ringing interrupted his thoughts and shaking   
his head, Tsuzuki pulled out the cell phone from his pocket, "Asaka-  
san?"  
  
Chieri took the tiny phone from his hand and pressed it to her   
ear, "Daddy? Yeah, want to meet for lunch? And then we can do   
Rockefeller together?"  
  
"Hai, Chieri-chan, that's fine," Asaka said into the payphone   
outside of a large bookstore with kanji writing across the black window   
panes, "I'm right near Rockefeller anyway."  
  
Pausing, he folded the Japanese newspaper he had just bought at   
Kinokuniya and hesitantly asked, "Are you having fun with Tsuzuki-san?"  
  
She sounded so completely happy and elated as she giggled back to   
him that, yes, she was having the time of her life. He tried to return   
her happiness as they made their lunch plans, but for the life of him,   
Asaka could not bring a smile to his face.  
~~  
"The VCR is all set to tape," Kouichi said as Yuni entered his   
house in the early evening.  
  
"I can't believe you can get a New York station," she answered him, "so   
we can see them live!"  
  
Kouichi checked his watch, "Yeah, tomorrow at ten am, or New York time   
seven p.m. the night before."  
  
He grinned at her, "I figured I'd set it up early, we can spare one of   
our five VCRs."  
  
She gave him the look he was baiting for.  
  
"Technogeek," she muttered, and he grinned.  
  
He has really straight teeth, Yuni thought, knowing it was ridiculous.   
And really long eyelashes...  
  
A few moments later, they both realized they had been staring at each   
other a little too long, and Yuni blushed and laughed nervously,   
pulling a hand through her hair.  
  
"Did you call Hiroshi?" she said, after searching a bit for a topic.  
  
"Ha-"  
  
Just then the front door opened and closed with slam. The two   
exchanged a confused looked and walked into the foyer.  
  
"Canty-san?" Yuni said.  
  
The famed ice-princess turned and gave Yuni a look so cold it chilled   
the older girl through.  
  
Swallowing, Yuni lifted her head, refusing to stoop to the level of   
this spoiled brat who almost sabotaged her best friend. "We were   
wondering if you wanted to watch Cherry and Tsuzuki-san's skate   
tomorrow with us-"  
  
"No," she said curtly, "I have much more important things to do then   
watch TV like over-excited children."  
  
Without another word, the youngest Akiyama turned on her heel and   
marched up the stairs, leaving Yuni and her brother in utter shock.  
  
~~  
  
"I can't believe you dragged me into FAO Schwartz," Tsuzuki complained   
good-naturedly that night as the three ate dinner together in the hotel   
restaurant.  
  
Chieri smiled, "It's a tradition, Tsuzuki. You can't go to New York   
and not go into FAO Schwartz." She smiled at him, "I want my present   
from there, Tsuzuki," she made a show of looking innocent, "hint,   
hint."  
  
"Oh," he mocked surprise, "and here I was all set to go to Tiffany's."  
  
A napkin flew across the table, missing him by a few inches.  
  
Laughing, he picked it up from the floor, "Stick to skating, Cherry."  
  
She blushed slightly. 'Tsuzuki,' she thought, 'you are so beautiful   
when you laugh like that...' It was a strange thing to think she might   
be the reason for the ice prince, the poker-faced Tsuzuki Masanori, to   
let go and just laugh. Did she make him that happy? As happy as he   
made her? Was that even possible?  
  
Asaka studied the water in his glass, the ice-cubes bumping into each   
other slightly.  
  
"You're quiet tonight, Dad," his daughter said, leaning toward him   
slightly, "daijoubu ka?"  
  
He looked up, surprised, "Hai," he lied, "so what's up for you two   
tomorrow?"  
  
"Practice," Tsuzuki said flatly, all traces of amusement gone from his   
features. "Bright and early, all day."  
  
Chieri sighed, leaning her head on her hand, "Gomen ne, Dad, but he's   
right. We have to practice if we are going to look good out there   
tomorrow night."  
  
"Want to get a few hours in before bedtime?" Tsuzuki was asking her,   
and Chieri nodded enthusiastically.  
  
You really do love skating, Asaka-san thought, just like I do.  
  
But it was different, to realize how much she loved pair skating then   
to realize how much she loved her partner. And he did not want to   
admit how scared he was.  
  
~~  
Tsuzuki slid rabidly to the side of the rink, his skates spraying   
snow-like ice crystals into the air.  
  
"Show off," Chieri muttered, one hand rubbing her sore shoulder.  
  
He spun gracefully on the practice rink in a nearby municipal   
gym. "Look who's talking," he said, "I don't seen to remember who was   
doing a few quadruples* just for the fun of it before."  
  
The girl had the grace to blush, running a hand through her   
sweaty blonde hair.  
  
"Shut up," she managed, but he was already smiling at her,   
holding out his hand.  
  
"Ready to call it a night?"  
~~  
  
Yuni stared out the window, snow falling gently. "I wonder why   
Canty is so upset all of a sudden?"  
  
Kouichi shrugged from his place on the sofa, a magazine in front   
of him, "With Canty you never know."  
  
She turned, "You sound like you don't care."  
  
Deep green eyes turned to her abruptly, Kouichi looked up from   
pages, his gaze intense.  
  
"I care a lot," he said.  
  
For a moment the room was so quiet even the silent falling snow   
seemed noisy.  
  
"She loved Tsuzuki very much," he said quietly, "I understand her   
heartbreak at his loving Cherry."  
  
"But Cherry is so right for him!" Yuni jumped to her friend's   
defense immediately but Kouichi just held up his hand, a sad smile   
across his handsome face.  
  
"I know," he said softly, "but sometimes even the most perfect   
love can hurt others."  
  
Yuni paused, her toes cold in the slippers on her feet, her   
fingers hot as she reached over to press the pads of her fingers gently   
on the top of his hand.  
~~  
  
Chieri yawned, struggled to keep her eyes open in the comfort of   
the soft pillows she was propped up on. The television in Tsuzuki's   
room blurred in her vision, the picture changed from them skating to a   
meld of colors and memories.  
  
"That was a good show," she murmured sleepily, curling more into   
the warmth of his arms.  
  
"Tired Cherry?" he whispered back, his lips grazing the top of   
her head, her hair still damp from her shower.  
  
"Hai. Aren't you?" she managed to say, and felt him kiss her   
cheek, his breath brushing her neck, sending tingles down to the tips   
of her fingers.  
  
"No," he answered her, and she lifted her head to smile up at   
him.  
  
"I should go," she said regretfully, acknowledging the lead   
feeling in her arms and legs from hours of relentless practice.  
  
Soft blue eyes gazed at her from beneath long lashes.   
  
"Answer one question first," his voice was slurred, eyes half   
closed. As tired as she was, more so even, no matter what he said.   
She shook her head, "You're half dead-"  
  
He pressed his lips to hers firmly, and the words died in   
Chieri's throat. Her fingers linked around the collar of his sweater,   
her knees buckling so she once again fell back into the pillows. He   
followed half laying, half kneeling beside her, his lips half an inch   
from hers.  
  
His eyes were darker on the outside, dark cobalt fading to bright   
aqua. Chieri shivered with the feeling of remember when she first   
looked so closely into his eyes, with the knowledge that she was the   
only one to know the color his eyes turned just before he kissed her.  
  
"What was your question?" she breathed, and he shook his head   
again, brushing his mouth against hers lightly, his too-warm hands on   
her shoulders and back.  
  
"How come," he kissed her ear, just missing the little golden   
angel earrings he had presented her with just after practice, "your   
name is Cherry," her hand moved to the back of his neck, "if you always   
taste just like raspberries?"  
  
She couldn't find breath to answer.  
~~  
  
Kouichi turned to face Yuni, his mouth open, ready to spill his heart   
and tell all. How Chieri had captivated him from the start, her spunk,   
her charisma, her determination, naivete, skating talent and beauty.   
How in the star-studded Tokyo night he had pulled her, startled and   
fluttering like a bird, into his arms.  
  
And how the snow had started to fall around wide, confused blue eyes,   
and he realized those eyes would only see Tsuzuki. One of his best   
friends, the man whose dream Kouichi and Hiroshi were chasing as if it   
was their own.  
  
But he found he couldn't speak. This girl with the kind brown eyes and   
warm hands was looking at him so lovingly, and he realized it did not   
matter that he once thought he loved her best friend. It only mattered   
that the snow outside lent it's soft light into the room, and that   
Yuni was slowly lowering her head so her forehead rested against his.  
  
"Whatever it is, Kouichi," she murmured. His first name. No suffix.   
When had she started calling him that? Did it matter?  
  
"Whatever it is, I'm here." Her fingers, resting on his hand,   
stretched out and pulled his cool fingers against her warm palm.   
  
For a moment green eyes met brown for a long moment, before Kouichi let   
his eyes fall shut and leaned his head against Yuni's shoulder.  
  
"Arigatou."  
~~  
  
The red nail polish shimmered as Canty let the brush run once   
more over her thumbnail. The little bottle was balanced on her knee as   
she sat on her bed, shades drawn against the new falling snow.  
  
"Yo," a semi-familiar voice called from the doorway, and Canty   
startled, letting a small, perfect drop of deep red fall onto her white   
bedspread.  
  
"Shimatta!" she cried, "You jerk!" Ice eyes glared at Hiroshi,   
but the man just cracked a smile and held up his hands in surrender.  
  
"Ah, gomen, gomen," he said in a friendly voice, making his   
companion's glare deepen.  
  
"What are you doing here?!" she said, wondering if it would be   
okay to throw the little glass bottle at his head, if it would knock   
off the stupid Santa hat the kid was wearing.  
  
"I thought I'd see how my favorite ice princess was doing," he   
said, leaning his head on his hand as he took a seat in her desk chair.  
  
She whipped her head to the other direction, lifting her chin   
haughtily. "It's none of your business."  
  
"That bad, eh?"  
  
"Listen yo-"  
  
"No, you listen," he said, his voice suddenly stronger, as he   
leaned forward in the chair eyes intent on the girl before him, "it's   
Christmas Eve. One of your closest friends is going to be skating out   
there in Amerika tonight and it'd be wonderful if you could tell him   
you watched."  
  
She frowned.  
  
"I'm not here to give you deep advice on your problems, although   
you have a lot of them," she raised the nail polish bottle   
threateningly, and he put his hands up again. "I just wanted you to   
know your brother and Yuni would like you there, and I'm sure Cherry   
and Tsuzuki would too."  
  
She didn't answer and Hiroshi sighed, fingering the fake fur   
around the base of his hat. "You know what your problem is, Canty-  
chan?"  
  
He turned to go, stood in her doorway and watched her watch her   
nails dry, "You think the world owes you something, when I think you,   
everyone, just owes the world. Smile more. It's the one thing Chieri   
can do 100% better than you."  
  
The bottle hit the door as it closed behind him.  
~~  
  
In a huge building in corporate Tokyo area, a man sat in a large room,   
at a great desk a television buzzing before him.  
  
"This year's world championship is broadcast from here in New   
York..." The man smiled, listening to every word.  
  
"Mr. President, all the members have gathered. The conference-"   
the man's voice was drowned out by the commanding baritone as the   
president answered.  
  
"Excuse me, but I'll be a little longer."  
  
Blinking, the messenger watched as his CEO turned back to the   
television.  
  
"But, sir, with all due re-" the words died in his throat as for   
the first time in his fifteen years with the company, he saw his boss   
smile.  
  
On the television, a young man stepped out onto the ice pulling a   
beautiful girl with him into the spotlight.  
  
"That's my son," Tsuzuki-san said.  
~~   
Amidst the smell of popcorn, three teens sat before a large   
television screen, the VCR whirring, the morning sun rising. As they   
watched the camera pan to a sparkling nighttime city halfway across the   
world, the sound of stocking feet on carpet was barely drowned out by   
the announcer's voice.  
  
Quietly, not meeting anyone's eyes, Canty padded across the   
living room and sat next to her brother. He smiled at her, and while   
she couldn't see, she smiled back, her eyes not leaving screen before   
her, focusing the two very important people about to live out their   
dream.  
~~  
  
The city whipped around Asaka-san's face, as he watched his   
daughter, his life, spin the arms of the man she loved. Time was so   
precious. His young, beautiful wife was torn from his arms in a fiery   
fall from heaven, he would make sure his angel would never fall.  
  
And if he wasn't there to catch her, Asaka realized suddenly,   
Tsuzuki would. His eyes not leaving his daughter's beautiful face,   
Asaka-san smiled. He loved Chieri with all his soul, and that   
knowledge made it less hard to realize he would never really have to   
let her go. The pain his chest did not go away, but as Chieri's smile   
lit up her entire face, it lessened.  
~~  
  
"Representing Japan last year in the world championship was this   
pair, Tsuzuki and Asuka," the announcer's voice boomed through the   
area, "We look forward to their first exhibition at Rockefeller   
Center."   
  
Before the glittering angels of fifth avenue, Tsuzuki reached for   
his true love's hand. She smiled.   
  
'We must be drawing up angels to the rink,' Chieri thought as she   
let the image of Tsuzuki among angels dance in her eyes, 'we have   
magic.'   
  
"My heart is pounding so hard..."   
  
"Cherry," Tsuzuki said, taking her hands, "My only one angel."   
  
Blue gazed into blue and slowly warm lips brushed against hers.  
  
For good luck.  
  
Forever.   
~~  
  
  
And someday, Kouichi and Yuni will fall, laughing, into other   
arms after a haphazard skating lesson after hours in the rink. And   
someday, Canty will smile hesitantly at some other teenage girls in a   
nearby shopping mall, and they will smile back. And someday, Asaka-san   
will look at some old photos of his wife and baby, and smile without a   
trace of hurt. And someday, Chieri will wake up, to sunlight streaming   
her eyes, and kiss her new husband awake, so they can skate together in   
the Olympics.   
~~  
  
But at that moment, in each other's arms, Christmastime air   
caressing their faces, the cheers of the crowd warm in their hearts,   
hands intertwined, all that mattered to Chieri and Tsuzuki were each   
other. And the lighted angels seemed to dance.  
  
  
  
[dialoge taken from Glover's translations of The Cherry Project   
manga]  
  
*about the guads... no woman has ever done a quadruple jump yet... ^^; Just making the sure the world knows the facts. Of course, Takeuchi-sensei has poetic license to change that in her manga, and I'm glad she did.  
  
Okay! Please review! Please!! ^^ The Cherry Project is such a   
great anime/manga, and needs more fics. So if you feel you can do   
better than this, then by ALL means, PLEASE do so! I'm sure you can,   
this isn't that good, I wrote it Christmas Eve in two hours. Hee hee   
hee. Gotta do something while you wait for Santa.  
  



End file.
